Tooth-regulator.



J. E. CANNING.

TOOTH REGULATOR.

APPLICATION FILED ocnzo. 1914.

1,199,663.- I Y PatentedSept. 26,1916.

the anchoring teeth.

screw which connects the two ears ofthe JOHN E. CANNIN-G, OE DENVER,COLORADO.

TOOTH-REGULATOR;

Specification of I.etter's Patent.

Patented Sept. 26,1916.

Applieation filed October 20, 1914. serial No. 867,575.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. CANNING, a citizen of the United States,residingin the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Tooth-Regulators; and Ido declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe inven tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in.

tooth regulators, or devices employed by Orthodontists in straighteningteeth. In the practice of orthodontia, an arch is employed which isanchored by means of clamp bands mounted upon two of the teeth onopposite sides and inthe rear of the tooth or teeth to be straightened.I-Ieretofore,.so far as I am aware, these arches have consisted ofsolidrods or wires, which are sprung around the teeth exteriorly andconnected with the anchor band by insertion in hollow screws by means ofwhich the band is clamped to. Furthermore, the

clamp band in the constructions heretofore used, has been journaled inone lug of the band and threaded into the other lug orear thereof.

My improvement consists of two novel features, namely,a bolt employed inconnection with the clamping band and the arch connected with said bandand to which-the ligatures are applied. This'bolt consists of a spiralspring whose exterior surface constitutes althread, by reason of thespiral arrangement of the strand of wire forming the bolt, and isthreaded into both lugs, whereby both are locked inthe desired positionof adjustmentupon the bolt, which is headless and hollow, to receive theex tremities of the arch. By virtue of this peculiar construction of thebolt, the latter will yieldor expand in an endwise direction whentheband is applied to the tooth, thus making it practicable to fit the sametightly thereon, whereby the necessary accuracy of adjustment incidentto the use of the form of construction heretofore in vogue, is notrequired. Again, the arch consists of a spiral spring whose-oppositeextremities may be inserted in the hollow bolts of the'clampsbandswhenthe arch is exteriorly applied; and insleevescarried by the clampbandinteriorly when the arch is applied interiorly'to the row of teeth.In either case, the. spiral spring'archpossesses animp'ortantadvantage,since it yields as the ligatures are applied, and is adapted to bebrought into closecontact with the teeth, whereby it is more effectivein the proper performance "of its function than where the- F ig. 4 is aviewof a portion of the mouth showing'theteeth'of, one jaw in place,andwith one formof my improvement applied. Fig. 5 is a similar viewillustrating another form, or -application of "the device. Fig. 6 is asimilar view-illustrating still another application of the improvement.

band, being a view looking in the direction of arrow 7, Fig. 8. Fig. 8is aside view of the. same; or a view looking in the direction of arrow8, Fig. 7. 1

The same reference I characters indicate the same parts in all theviews.

Let the numeral 5 designate my improved arch, which consists of 'aspiral" spring, which, as illustrated in the drawing, has itsconvolutions in close contact with' each other, whereby its exteriorsurface is adapted to cooperate with the threads of a nut 6, which maybe applied'thereto and made to act upon either end of a bolt 7,

which is also formed of a spiral spring, its exterior surface fittingthe interior threads of lugs 8 formed uponthe opposite extremities ofthe clamp band 9,'which is adapted to be applied to a tooth 10, foranchoring purposes. The arch 5 is usually anchored by means of two ofthese-bands, as illustrated in the drawing. Where the front teeth are tobe. straightened, the arch is usually Fig. 7 is a detail view of aspecial form ofclamp be provided with nuts 6 which are threaded anchoredto two of the large teeth or molars (see Figs. 4, 5 and 6). Beforeapplying these bands to the teeth, the bolts 7 are threaded into thelugs 8 of the band. In order to properly space the lugs upon the bolt,the bolt is screwed into one lug a suitable distance, before it isstarted into the other lug, then, as the bolt is turned,the two lugsmaintain their spacing relation. As these bands are applied to theteeth, assuming that their lugs are connected by bolts 7, these bolts,as they are composed of spiral springs, will expand slightly, and permita crowding of the band over and down upon the teeth 10. This springfeature gives an important advantage in a construction of this class, ascompared with the construction where the bolt is absolutely unyielding,whereby extreme care must be taken to accurately adjust the clamp bandso that it will exactly fit the tooth.

Assuming that the clamp bands are applied to the teeth 10, the arch 5 isapplied to the teeth exteriorly (see Fig. 4), its extremities beinginserted in the bolts 7 which are hollow for the purpose. The arch maythereon and arranged to engage the adjacent forward extremities of thebolts where they form stops, thus leaving the proper length of archbetween the nuts 6 to properly perform the required function inconnection with teeth which are to be straightened, as shown at 12 (seeFig. 4). The manner of straightening a tooth of this character is toapply a ligature 13 to the tooth, and then connect the same with thearch, whereby the portion of the arch adjacent the tooth is bentinwardly, as shown at 14, and therefore placed under tension, whichtension acts constantly upon the ligature and the tooth is drawnoutwardly into proper alinement or into its proper relative positionwith the other teeth. It is evident that an arch consisting of a spiralspring, has a degree of flexibility which will permit it to adjustitself to varying conditions to a much greater extent than a solid wireor small spring rod.

Referring now to Fig. 5, the construction is similar to Fig. 4, exceptthat the arch 5 is applied to the insideof the row of teeth. In thisevent, the extremities of the arch are slipped into sleeves 15, whichare formed on th clamp bands 9, which are substantially the same asillustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, except that in Fig. 5, the auxiliarysleeves 15 are employed, whereas, in Figs. 1 and 4, the hollow boltsconstitute the sleeves for receiving the extremities of the exteriorlylocated arch.

As shown in'Fig. 5, two bands 16 are employed, whose lugs 8 areconnected by bolts 7, which is substantially the same construction asemployed in connection with these bands 16 are employed.

1 ,1 99 ,cos

the bands 9 in the other views. The inner portions of 'these clamp bands16 are provided with projections 17 which extend inwardly and engage thearch 5 and prevent the latter from moving out of place. shown in Fig. 5of the drawing, two of These are of the same construction as shown inFigs. 7 and 8.

In the form of construction shown in Fig. 6, the arch 5 is interiorlylocated and the extremities pass through sleeves 15 mounted on the innerportions of the clamp bands 9, the same as in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5, theinte riorly located arch 5 is so arranged as to bear upon a tooth 18,which is too far inwardly and illustrates the manner of graduallypressing a tooth back into line with its companion teeth, after theyhave grown too far inwardly; while in Fig. 6, a ligature 13 is appliedto a tooth 18, in such a manner that the tension of the spring 5 acts todraw the tooth 18 inwardly into line with its companion teeth. In thiscase, nuts 19 are applied to extremities of the spring arch and causedto bear against the rear extremities of the sleeves 15. In this form ofconstruction, by screwing or turning the nuts 19 in the properdirection, a pull may be exerted on the arch 5, which extends to theligature 18, and through the medium of the latter, draws the tooth 18gradually back into its proper position with relation to its companionteeth. In this view, the position of an exteriorly located arch of myimproved construction, with nuts applied to the opposite extremitiesthereof and engaging the rear extremities of the bolts 7, isillustrated, the said arch serving, by virtue of the tension placedthereon, to crowd teeth, as 18, which are too far out, back intoalinement.

From the foregoing description, the use and .operation of my improvementwill be readily understood, and need not be explained further in detail.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A toothregulating device including an anchor band bolt composed of a spiralspring whose external ribbed surface forms the screw thread.

2. A tooth regulating device including a longitudinally yieldable anchorband bolt.

3. A tooth regulating device including an arch band composed of a spiralspring.

4. A tooth regulating device including a longitudinally yieldable anchorband bolt, said bolt being hollow to receive the arch band. j

5. A tooth regulator composed of a pair of clamp bands, each having apair of interiorly threaded lugs, hollow bolts respectively engagingsaid pairs of lugs in clamping relation, and an arch composed of aspiral spring whose extremities enter the hollow bolts of the bands.

6. A tooth regulator composed of a pair of clamp bands each band havinga pair of interiorly threaded lugs, hollow bolts respectively engagingthe said pairs of lugs in clamping relation, an arch band composed of aspiral spring whose extremities enter the hollow bolts of the bands, andan auxiliary clamp band having a projection engaging the arch band tomaintain the latter in place between the anchoring bands;

7 A tooth regulator composed of a pair of anchoring clamp bands,provided with lugs, hollow bolts applied to said lugs in clampingrelation, an arch band Whose extremities enter said bolts, and auxiliaryclamp bands located between the anchoring bands and having projectionsengaging the said arch band to maintain the latter in its properposition.

8. A tooth regulator composed of a pair of anchoring clamp bands, eachhaving two threaded lugs, hollow bolts composed of spiral springsrespectively engaging the sets of lugs of the two bands in clampingrelation, and an arch band composed of a spiral spring whose extremitiesenter the said clamp bands.

In testimony whereof I afl ix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN E. CANNING.

Witnesses:

MAZE KIRBY, A. EBERT OBRIEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Iatente, Washington, D. 0.

